


Just How Much

by lentilchip



Category: The Shape of Water (2017)
Genre: Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Missing Scene, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, it's just Tender Smut OK
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-22 20:28:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13771923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lentilchip/pseuds/lentilchip
Summary: A take on the missing bath scene.Or: "4k+ of the tenderest smut I've ever attempted to write."Or: "This has been in my drafts since November and only now am I finishing it, spurred on by the Oscar win(s). Wow you guys."





	Just How Much

The pipes on the tiled ceiling, rattling. Her gown, slipping off her shoulders and into a silken puddle on the floor. A quick pull at the shower curtain, closing them off from the rest of the world. 

Here, Elisa stood – naked and exposed, save for the specks of algae clinging to her ankles. All in the presence of someone, a being, of many names: An asset. An abomination. A river god.

Him.

At her entrance, he had risen to greet her in one smooth movement, the tub water gently sloshing as he unfolded to his full height. Rivulets streaming along his body, drip-dropping against the water’s surface.

Now, in this stillness, he remained in the same composed stance. Poised, his back an arched bow, arms held a stiff angle against his body. Enveloped in the gilded light of the evening sun, he looked as if he had stepped straight out of some spring from the ancient Greek myths.

Despite her undressed state, his eyes never left her face – quizzically scanning it, blinking in that peculiar way of his. Perhaps her nudity didn’t bother him. To be fair, he had been in the same state for all the time she had known him. And yet the silence between them had never felt this charged, heavy with something completely new, unfamiliar but alluring.

For a moment, the sound of the falling water droplets seemed the only sign of life in the space that used to be her bathroom. These days, filled with the presence of her new guest, it seemed to have changed into something different.

Elisa was the first one to move. Reaching out like she had done moments before, when she had traced the threads of light on his skin, when curiosity had mingled with something else, something too overwhelming. Now, holding his gaze all the while, she tried to will that new resolve into her fingertips. Hoping that it somehow made it through to him. Words unspoken, like many others shared between them.

And just as before, he tensed against her touch, the same crackle of light trembling against her fingers. She followed its path, mindful of every move on his part; the rise and fall of his chest, his mouth falling open with the faint rasping of his shallow land-breaths. His gold-speckled eyes staring deep into hers.

Elisa moved closer, disturbing the water and raising her other hand to mirror its twin – smoothing over the ridges of his chest, catching against the grain of the tougher scales on his ribs. His soft trills bounced against the walls, along with her own breathing, growing faster.

As she crowded against him, she felt his hands against her side, feathery light on her dampening skin. The next breath she took stuck in her throat as she felt his cold fingers on her, properly this time, with the same careful, exploring touch from before. His face was rapt with curiosity, open and unguarded, his paper-thin gills fluttering.

Right then, Elisa felt as if nothing had changed and they were right back where they had started, at those first tentative touches. Her heart was beating loudly, surely loud enough for him to hear, she thought. His webbed hands traveled over her back and as he dipped lower, claws dragging gently against her soft flesh, she couldn’t help the way she twitched, her thighs pressed together.

The points of his claws pressed into her skin at that, far from piercing but still hinting at a sharpness there. Suddenly, she thought of gashes on Giles’ forearm – streams of deep red, trickling down into drops on his carpet. The image lingered in her mind and for the briefest of moments, she hesitated.

Then he turned look at her again, brass-speckled eyes brimming with attention and something akin to wonder, and the moment passed. In its stead came an exhilarating feeling, like a bout of confidence mixed with an eager hunger to explore.

At this proximity, with their chests almost close to touching, Elisa was effectively reminded of their actual difference in height. She had to tilt her head to get a proper look at him. Her eyes scanned his face, following the mottled patterns on his cheeks, the sharpness of his jaw, stopping at his open mouth, the glistening of his lower lip. 

She desperately wanted to kiss him.

Unsure of how to bring about this, she quelled the impulse. Whatever this was, this new thing they were doing, sticking to a slow pace seemed like the wisest approach. She did, however, take notice of his increasingly shallower breaths, and decided there was one direction this needed to go in. With a soft pull, she moved down towards the water, urging him along. Apparently of the same idea, he followed her. 

The tub obviously wasn’t built with two occupants in mind. They did fit however, snugly. A snugness Elisa was made promptly aware of as they both moved against each other, the insides of her thighs brushing against his strong legs when she moved to make room for him. The sensation lingered, slowly trickling upwards to add to the dull warmth in her belly. He, in turn, let out another raspy trill.

They settled with her legs almost atop his, his arms closing her in as they rested against the tub’s edge. His chest only a finger’s breadth away from her, close enough that it met with hers. She didn’t quite know what to do with her hands. Crowding each other like this, his frame seemed huge compared to her slightness, surrounding her entirely. It felt inexplicably thrilling, somehow.

Another thing she noticed was the water’s temperature – colder than she had thought, but far from freezing. The tile felt cool against her legs as they were pressed to the side of the tub. She didn’t exactly mind, but still her body betrayed her; skin prickling with gooseflesh, her nipples hardening as the water lapped against her breasts.

She felt herself twitch, unwillingly. The human body’s reponse to temperature changes aside: with her morning routine in the tub, she sometimes figured she’d developed a somewhat Pavlovian reaction to these, at a lack of a better term, specific conditions. Even with a sprinkle of algae added to them.

He, too, had flinched at her sudden movement, more of a reflex than a sign of being spooked. From his mouth came a cut-off sound and his legs stirred, rubbing against her again. Her hands flung out of the water to steady herself against his arms, and when the water had settled around them her grip remained. 

Elisa met his gaze again. Almost unconciously, they had both shifted closer still. Spurred on by the shared touch, the warmth in her gut felt like a sharp tug this time and a familiar tingle spread through her body. She had half a mind to move this thing along, now.

Her hands moved against his slick skin, gripping at the lean muscle of his arms. The spark of his bioluminescence followed in the wake of her fingers, who came away with a sheen of wetness clinging to them. She rubbed her fingertips together, almost as an afterthought. 

Apart from his glowing, her caresses seemed to be prompting other reactions. His full-body twitches from earlier were a different thing up close – the short convulsions rocking them both. Every movement seemed a shared one, with every stirring of their limbs being felt by the other. What had begun as sensual exploration had moved on to something decidedly erotic, and the thrilling enjoyment Elisa felt seemed mirrored in the slackness of his jaw and the heaving rasps of his breath.

Before she had registered it she was practically in his lap. When their chests finally met, the slick weight of him pressed against the soft peaks of her breasts and Elisa sighed, her thighs flexing once around his middle. Both of his hands came up against her shoulder blades at that, their wide reach close to covering her entire back. It was tender and intimate, all at once.

She pressed her face against his neck, almost as if to hide, nosing at the point where it connected to his shoulder. Testing, her lips pressed a soft kiss there. She felt both the fluttering of his gills and the humming groan he let out – a soft, melodic thing. 

Embracing fully now, Elisa felt surrounded by him all around, every bit of her skin touching him as much as he did her. The water lapped against them both, and the dull thudding in her crotch was overwhelming. Acting on pure instinct, she rubbed against him in one short roll of her hips.

With her visual knowledge of his form, she knew that there was nothing there to really rub against. Sure, there was no denying her earlier ponderings on the plated scales of his anatomy and the obvious absence of a certain, well, attribute. Still, right now, the sensation was exquisite, however brief it was. Her mouth fell open on a hitched breath.

His hands still roamed across the expanse of her back, webbed digits skimming her hot skin and sliding to a stop at her waist. Even as she scooted backwards just a little, to ease off, his grip remained. Their upper bodies slid against each other again and the slick pressure was overwhelming.

Unable to quell the impule, Elisa steadied herself with a hand on his neck and let her other one trail between her legs, thighs falling open the final few inches that the tub allowed. At the first stroke of her fingers, she bucked into the touch involuntarily, already very strung up, sensitive. 

When he became aware of what she was up to, his grip on her waist tightened. The speckled eyes followed her movements, peering down attentively as she worked on herself. Another low sound came deep from his throat, reverbating through her body and making her eyes slide shut as she allowed herself a few more languid strokes.

Lost in the sensation, she all but faintly registered one of his hands loosening its grip on her middle to move around front, testingly stroking along her skin as it went. She opened her eyes again and found his right hand in her lap. It had settled on the top of her thigh, curiously edging closer to her own in a tantallizing slide.

In one smooth motion, Elisa’s let go of his neck to instead push softly at his chest, halting him. His hand stopped. Through the fog of lust heavy in her head she thought of sharp claws, the tenderest of flesh and the newness of it all. The trust was building, had been building, but still. Too new.

Beneath her fingers, his chest was rising and falling. She felt a telltale rhythmic thumping, strong and fast and exhilarated and something inside her soared. Then again, she thought as she met his gaze and her hand brushed against his, reassuringly. 

With an audience this attentive, she saw no reason why she couldn’t make a little show out of it.

The water sloshed as she moved backwards, holding his gaze as she carefully signed, _Let me show you._ He made a sound like a squawk in response, his arms lingering as he let her go, almost reluctantly. Elisa’s heart surged again, hard enough that she felt it in her ears.

Specks of algae clung to her body as she hoisted herself out of the tub water, some of it spilling onto the floor. As she settled on the smooth tile, legs splayed and her left foot flat against the edge of the tub, she knocked the cylinder of algae aside. Her hands returned to their task with a newfound passion, spreading herself open with her index- and middlefinger. Just as she thought, she was slick with arousal, and at the first press against her clit she gasped wetly.

In front of her, he was following her every move intently, eyes flitting between her hands in her crotch and the rising flush in her face. She looked right back at him and, with a thrill, realised this part of her must seem as foreign to him as everything else about her. She stroked her clit firmly, thoroughly egged on now. This, essentially, would be another of their many lessons. Would that she had her hands free now to sign the words! 

Still, he seemed to be interested enough. As she continued fingering herself, he was slowly moving forward, creeping towards her. One of his hands came up to touch her ankle lightly, and the sensation coursed through her body to mingle with the pleasure radiating from her groin. 

There was almost a reverence to his movements, she thought hotly; the bated look in his eyes, the set of his jaw and the soft slide of his fingers against her leg, moving upwards, painstakingly slow. Her skin prickled at the cold wetness of his grip and for a moment she was thrown off her rhythm, head falling back to hit the wall. Her heavy breaths were joined by a low purring sound from deep in his throat, echoing off of the bathroom walls.

He was level with her cunt now, his hand firm against the lowest point of her thigh, and for a brief moment she imagined him putting his mouth on her. While inwardly deeming it undoubtedly too much too soon, her lower body still bucked in his direction, trembling with the restrained effort. She was breathing hard, almost dizzyingly so. Just the thought of it was more than enough, of him closing the distance, his soft lips mouthing at the point where thigh met groin, his wet heat lapping against–

Then, she was coming, her eyes screwed shut and hips snapping to thrust against her vigorously pumping fingers. It took almost all of her effort not to slide back into the water, and she tried as best as she could to steady herself on trembling feet. Throughout it all, she could still feel his eyes on her, hear his deep breaths.

His hands had left her skin during the first shocks of her orgasm, but now they were back, soothingly moving across her thigh again. The faint sensation still felt like too much, bordering on overstimulation. As she finally opened her eyes, she met the same adoring look from before. Her heartbeat throbbed dully between her trembling thighs.

The evening light was lower now, now casting a reddish tint over them both. When Elisa slid back down into the water again, still twitching with aftershocks, he made a quick move to rise to meet her. She caught a brief flash of color againsts his pale underbelly as he moved, and then he was back with her in the water again. Her breath was stuck in her throat. It had been quick, but surely, that just now...?

Her head was swimming, her arousal slowly returning to her attention. At least she didn’t seem alone in that sense: he crowded against her intently now, almost skittish, and her hands came up to cradle his jaw. Threads of light crackled on his skin as she moved against him, the glow golden now as he tensed under her touch, rumbling softly.

Testingly, her fingers trailed further down, dipping into the water. She looked up at him, reading his face for any sign of discomfort. He all but crooned in response, leaning into her touch, and there was no hiding the way his hips twitched in that telltale way of growing arousal. Bolstered by this, she continued, finally touching his cock.

Through the water surface’s petal-like quilt of algae, she could hardly make out the shape of it. Somehow, that made it all the more alluring; relying on touch alone, letting it take form only in her mind’s eye. She wrapped her hand around it, slowly. It was firm, thick at the base with her fingers just fully closing around it at the middle, as it tapered off into a point. 

Her eyes stayed on his face as she started to move, wanting to take in his expression – his translucent eyelids were entirely closed, his mouth opened wetly around a low noise. His body was strung tight as a bow, save for the rhythmic quivering of his gills and the small twitches of his hands against her upper arms. As she gripped the base firmly on one downward stroke, he leaned into her with a soft keen, their foreheads touching. 

The tenderness of it threatened to melt her heart as much as it stoked her own need, like stirring the embers of a dimming fire. His face was so close, almost close enough for their mouths to meet, hot breaths mingling, and just like before the thought alone was alluring enough, the hint of it spurring Elisa on, her grip on his cock twisting experimentally at each upward stroke. 

He didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, hopelessly grasping at her as his noises grew deeper, trailing into a sonorous rumble. Her other hand came to rest again at the back of his neck, a firm grip tethering both herself to him and him to her. Around them, the water splashed obscenely.

Suddenly his breathing came to a rasping hitch. She eased off, immediately missing the closeness of him. He hadn’t finished, or, with a quick look down in the water, she didn’t think he had. Sure enough, a hint of color assured her that the limb was still out, and by the state he was in she figured it wasn’t over just yet. He crowded against her intently, letting out huffing groans, sparkles of golden light dancing on his skin.

They were both breathing heavily now and she knew what came next, wanted it desperately. The thick arousal was back in full now, throbbing hotter in her afterglow. She surreptitiously pressed her thighs together to stifle it, and felt herself twitch. His strong neck muscles flexed against her grip, and right then came the fleeting thought that he had felt her too. It left her breathless and unabashedly eager.

The water shifted around them as she moved closer, rubbing up against him, crotch to crotch, half testing and half teasing for the pure, unadultered ecstasy of it all. They came together, her cunt sliding against his unfurling erection in one sweet moment of pleasure. A hint of what to come, a warm, firm pressure against her clit, two sharp breaths shared by them both.

Elisa felt herself throb again, clenching around nothing. She steadied herself, hanging on to the firm column of his neck. Beneath her, he was a still shape seemingly wrought out of marble. The trills, the rumbling, the agitated groans had all come to a full stop, and the gossamer veil of his eyelids had slid firmly shut. A bead of water crept slowly along his bottom lip, daring her to kiss him.

In a moment of absurd clarity, Elisa realised it wasn’t too late to back out. To get up, towel off, pick up her discarded gown and call it a night. 

Then she felt the slow and ever so careful roll of his hips.

Elisa thought about the primal instinct shared in all the world’s creatures, of the rising, melodious rumble from his throat and her own throbbing anticipation, and made a decision.

As she moved closer, crowding over him, she took notice of the silver knobs and shower handle getting in his way. So she pulled at his shoulders, urging him to turn around and her to follow. He complied, rumbling all the while. This time the rearrangement of limbs went smoothly, and in two short heartbeats she was kneeling over him, legs on either side of his slim hips, his webbed palms stroking her backside.

Gingerly, she lined up his cock against her slick folds and took a steadying breath.

What happened next went by almost too quickly to register. In one fluid motion, Elisa guided him inside her, one slick slide stopped only by the swell at the base of his member. A shudder racked through her body, and from her mouth came a cut-off noise like something she’d never heard before. As if spurred on, he twitched inside her, growing bigger.

There was no time to stop to reflect on what she was feeling. It all flickered through her in time with her rutting, sensations coarsing wildly inside of her. Registering as white-hot flashes, immediately replaced by another one even more exquisite than the last. She sank down again, harder this time, and he made a sound like a groan and a whimper.

They fell into a familiar rhythm, him meeting her thrusts with powerful strokes, arms wrapped tightly at her middle, securing her. His mouth was open, slack around wet noises falling out one after another. Around them both the water splashed wildly, spilling over the edges of the tub.

Her hand came up to grip at her tender breast, working it over, pulling and pinching all at once. The twin sensation were nigh-overwhelming, a tingling trickle of warmth starting at her scalp and streaming down to her cunt. Her other hand kept its firm grip on him, her neatly-trimmed fingernails digging into the thick scales at the nape of his neck. The thick base of his cock teased intently on each downward stroke, threatening to push inside her completely. Just the thought of it egged her on even more.

His hips were off the bottom of the tub completely now, thighs clenching in tune with his thrusts, holding her entire form effortlessly. His breathless groans bounced off the tiled walls and reverbated through her body with a marvelous volume. Mixed with the obscene sloshing of the water, it was almost enough to overwhelm her.

Beneath her he shifted just so, in an angle that made her cunt rub against the firmness of his scaled abdomen, at its lowest point where the shimmering plates parted at his cock. This hard press at her clit contrasted by the throbbing silkiness inside her seemed to be the breaking point. She could only gasp wetly.

Behind Elisa’s eyes played a myriad of images, like flickering through a folder of static drawings to make them move together. The enticing push at her outer lips seemed an endless tease. She thought about taking him to the hilt, enveloping him fully, letting him stretch her fill her reach her innermost core. Then, brilliantly, she was coming again, thighs twitching and mouth pressed into the crook of his neck.

Even as her second orgasm had run through her body, sapping all of her strength, she still pulsed around him. It took almost all her trembling effort to lift her head and open her eyes again, stirred on by the thought of watching him. Enveloped by the dark green of the tub water, his open face lost in a look of complete pleasure. Her hands moved over him again, stroking and smoothing over his slick skin with no further goal other than just to touch him.

He crooned at her ministrations and his cock twitched inside her, and although she was teetering on the edge of overstimulation, she deliberately clenched around him. At this, his hands scrabbled to grip firmly at her hips. One deep thrust, then another, hips stuttering, and then he came apart with a grunt and a raspy breath. His phosphoresence glimmered wildly, brilliant golden hues dancing through the ripples of the water as he trembled beneath her.

Overcome by emotion, she struggled to think of the right words to use, wanting desperately to convey to him how beautiful he was, how she adored him.

He was still twitching when she settled on raising her hands to his face, cupping it gently. At this, he blinked sluggishly, then turned his head faintly to lean into her touch, the sheer membranes of his eyes sliding shut again. The press of his wet lips against her pruney thumb made her face heat up, as if the gesture itself seemed more intense than what they had just been doing.

In the corner of her eye, she saw his hand feeling its way up against her arm, coming to rest at her cheek, gingerly. Mirroring her – like he had mirrored her first curious touches, from what felt like hours ago. With a tiny prickling in her eyes she turned her head as well, pressing a kiss at his slick palm.

They stayed like that for a while, holding each other as the water stilled around them.

Then, from his throat, came another rasping breath. Despite being in the partly submerged, their romp had obviously taken a toll. On top of that, Elisa felt herself shudder, from cold this time. Around them, the warming light was on the edge of letting go, welcoming the dusk. With a final, soothing stroke at his face, Elisa reluctantly moved back, giving him room.

They came apart, his softening member retreating out of her. She felt his come trickle out of her, dared a quick glance down in the water, at the milky cloud dissipating by her crotch. The image would stay with her a long while after that, she knew that already.

At her exit, he gripped after her still, gasping softly, his knuckles gingerly bumping against the side of her hand. She smiled a small smile and took his hand, held it still as she stepped out of the tub. His grip loosened but his eyes remained on her face, as they always did, gleaming brasa and gold.

Ever so gently, he moved her hand to his mouth to press the wet line of his lips against her fingers. And with a final, slow sonorous trill, he slid down to lay completely submerged in the water, slipping into his sleep-like state, spurred on by the nights hours. 

Elisa looked down at the blanket of algae-petals with a sudden lump in her throat, saw tiny ripples of blue light cutting through the green-tinged water, her heart ticking away like a baby bird, and knew then and there that she was long gone. 

She let the tap run a short while to restore the decidedly lowered water level in the tub.  
She toweled off, attempting to scrub off the last specks of algae still clinging to her, drying all the same. She decided on getting up early so she could ask to borrow Giles’s shower nextdoor, to clean up properly. Knowing him, he’d probably be able to tell what she’d been up to from a quick glance.

Elisa picked up her discarded gown, holding it against her damp body. On weak legs, she stepped out of what used to be her bathroom, closing the door softly behind her.  
Leaning back against the dark wood, she pressed her water-wrinkled fingers against her mouth, still feeling a faint ghost of lingering sensation. She smiled.

A touch like a kiss, of sorts.

**Author's Note:**

> Four Oscars, you guys. Wow.


End file.
